to require employers to pay a base rate of pay, full rate of pay and any casual loading that is not less than the relevant award or national minimum wage for employees covered by an enterprise agreement.

to remove the requirement that certain small businesses pay penalty rates unless the work is performed on a weekend and is in addition to 38 hours of work over a seven day period, is in addition to ten hours of work in a 24 hour period, or is performed on a public holiday.

to: clarify the application of the Act to migrants; require Fair Work Information Statements to contain certain information; provide additional protection from adverse action in certain circumstances; introduce a ‘reasonable person’ test in determining whether an employer has engaged in sham contracting; enable the court to make orders requiring directors of phoenix companies to pay amounts owed by failed companies and orders disqualifying certain persons from managing corporations; increase maximum penalties for certain breaches of the Act; and introduce new offences for serious contraventions of the Act that involve the use of coercion or threats; and

to: ensure that penalty rates in a modern award cannot be varied to make the penalty rate lower than that in force under the award on 30 June 2017; provide that any such determination made by the Fair Work Commission made on or after 22 February 2017 is of no effect; and ensure that penalty rates cannot be reduced in any future greenfields or non-greenfields enterprise agreement if an employee is worse off than they would have been under the award, by virtue of the fact that the employee works only or mainly on days on which penalty rates are paid.

to: ensure that modern awards cannot be varied to reduce penalty rates or the hours to which penalties rates apply if the variation is likely to result in a reduction in the take-home pay of an employee; and provide that any such determination made by the Fair Work Commission made on or after 22 February 2017 is of no effect.

to: ensure that modern awards cannot be varied to reduce penalty rates or the hours to which penalties rates apply if the variation is likely to result in a reduction in the take-home pay of an employee; and provide that any such determination made by the Fair Work Commission made on or after 22 February 2017 is of no effect.

to: increase maximum civil penalties for certain serious contraventions of the Act; hold franchisors and holding companies responsible for certain contraventions of the Act by their franchisees or subsidiaries where they knew or ought reasonably to have known of the contraventions and failed to take reasonable steps to prevent them; clarify the prohibition on employers unreasonably requiring their employees to make payments in relation to the performance of work; provide the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) with evidence-gathering powers similar to those available to corporate regulators such as the Australian Securities and Investment Commission and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission; and prohibit the hindering or obstructing of the FWO and or an inspector in the performance or his or her functions or powers, or the giving of false or misleading information or documents.

to: ensure that penalty rates in a modern award cannot be varied to make the penalty rate lower than that in force under the award on 1 January 2017; and provide that any such determination made by the Fair Work Commission made on or after 22 February 2017 is of no effect.

to: allow for minimum standards under the National Employment Standards to relate to superannuation contributions; and require employers to provide information to employees in relation to employer superannuation contributions for each pay period;

Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992

to: clarify that amounts contributed to a superannuation fund by an employee or Retirement Savings Account under a salary sacrifice arrangement are not employer contributions; remove the current exemption for employers not to make superannuation contributions to employees who are paid less than $450 in a calendar month; remove certain restrictions on choice of superannuation fund; and provide for a review of employers’ compliance with superannuation payment obligations by the Commissioner of Taxation;

Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993

to create a duty for trustees of superannuation entities to take reasonable steps to notify their members when it could reasonably have expected them to have received a contribution from an employer, but did not; and

Taxation Administration Act 1953

to require additional information to be provided to the commissioner in annual member information statements.

to respond to recommendations of the Productivity Commission’s final report into the Workplace Relations Framework by: removing the requirement for the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to conduct 4 yearly reviews of modern awards from the beginning of 1 January 2018; and enabling the FWC to overlook minor procedural or technical errors when approving an enterprise agreement, if it is satisfied that those errors were not likely to have disadvantaged employees; and

Report of Inquiry into Complaints about the Honourable Vice President Michael Lawler of the Fair Work Commission and Related Matters

by applying the complaint-handling powers of the Minister for Employment and the President of the FWC to FWC members who formerly held office in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, and applying the

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Bills and committees

The House of Representatives Selection Committee and the Senate Selection of Bills Committee routinely consider whether bills should be referred to committees for inquiry and report. The House Committee reports its determinations to the chamber, while the Senate Committee makes recommendations which the Senate may then adopt. Bills may also be referred to committees by either chamber or by the relevant minister to House and joint committees.